Ultrasonic doppler measurement of blood flow velocities by array transducers
First Claim
1. In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system including Doppler apparatus for making ultrasonic measurements of flow conditions at a sample volume within the body comprising:
- an array transducer having multiple elements comprising an active aperture of a given dimension;
a receiver coupled to said array transducer for receiving echo signals from elements of the transducer aperture;
a Doppler processor coupled to said receiver for Doppler processing of echo signals received from said sample volume to develop estimates of flow velocity at said sample volume;
a peak velocity detector coupled to said Doppler processor for identifying a peak flow velocity from a number of said flow velocity estimates, including means for identifying said peak flow velocity as a function of said dimension of said active aperture of said transducer array and the location of said sample volume with respect to said active aperture; and
a display for displaying said identified peak flow velocity.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A Doppler signal processor is provided for an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which identifies the peak and mean flow velocities by Doppler interrogation of a sample volume within the body. The effects of spectral broadening resulting from the use of an array transducer are compensated by producing a peak velocity value which is a function of the dimension of the array aperture and its relation to the location of the sample volume. Mean velocity values calculated from received Doppler echoes are combined with an array distortion function to produce accurate mean velocity values. The entire spectrum may be corrected by deconvolving the received signal spectrum with an array distortion function. Alternatively the effects of spectral broadening are compensated by use of Doppler reference signals for each element of the array which are a function of the position of the individual elements in the array aperture.
-
Citations
27 Claims
-
1. In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system including Doppler apparatus for making ultrasonic measurements of flow conditions at a sample volume within the body comprising:
-
an array transducer having multiple elements comprising an active aperture of a given dimension; a receiver coupled to said array transducer for receiving echo signals from elements of the transducer aperture; a Doppler processor coupled to said receiver for Doppler processing of echo signals received from said sample volume to develop estimates of flow velocity at said sample volume; a peak velocity detector coupled to said Doppler processor for identifying a peak flow velocity from a number of said flow velocity estimates, including means for identifying said peak flow velocity as a function of said dimension of said active aperture of said transducer array and the location of said sample volume with respect to said active aperture; and a display for displaying said identified peak flow velocity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system including Doppler apparatus for making ultrasonic measurements of flow conditions within the body comprising:
-
an array transducer having multiple transducer elements; a receiver coupled to said array transducer for receiving echo signals from elements of the transducer array; a Doppler processor coupled to said receiver for Doppler processing of said echo signals to develop estimates of flow velocity at a sample volume within said body; a mean velocity detector coupled to said Doppler processor for identifying a mean flow velocity from a number of flow velocity estimates, including means for identifying said mean flow velocity as a function of a spectral distortion function based upon the use of an array transducer; and a display for displaying said identified mean flow velocity. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system including Doppler apparatus for making ultrasonic measurements of flow conditions at a sample volume within the body comprising:
-
an array transducer having multiple transducer elements; a transmitter coupled to said transducer elements for separately exciting said elements to produce transmitted Doppler signals; a receiver coupled to said transducer elements for separately receiving Doppler signals from said sample volume; and a reference signal generator, coupled to said transmitter or receiver, for providing different Doppler reference signals to separate ones of said transmitted or received Doppler signals which are a function of the locations of the transducer elements which transmitted or received said Doppler signals and of the location of said sample volume with respect to said array transducer. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system including Doppler apparatus for making ultrasonic measurements of flow conditions at a sample volume within the body comprising:
-
an array of transducer elements; a transmitter coupled to said transducer elements for separately exciting said elements to produce transmitted Doppler signals; a receiver including demodulators coupled to respective ones of said transducer elements for separately receiving Doppler signals from said sample volume; and a reference signal generator, coupled to said receiver, for providing different Doppler reference signals to respective ones of said demodulators which are a function of the locations of the transducer elements in said array. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system including Doppler apparatus for making ultrasonic measurements of flow conditions at a sample volume within the body comprising:
-
an array of transducer elements; a transmitter coupled to said transducer elements for separately exciting said elements to produce transmitted Doppler signals; a receiver including demodulators coupled to respective ones of said transducer elements for separately receiving Doppler signals from said sample volume; and a reference signal generator, coupled to said transmitter, for providing different Doppler reference signals to respective ones of said transducer elements which are a function of the locations of the transducer elements in said array. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
-
-
26. In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system including Doppler apparatus for making ultrasonic measurements of flow conditions within the body comprising:
-
an array transducer having multiple transducer elements; a receiver coupled to said array transducer for receiving echo signals from elements of the transducer array; a Doppler processor coupled to said receiver for Doppler processing of said echo signals to develop estimates of flow velocity at a sample volume within said body; a Doppler spectral processor, responsive to said Doppler processor, for combining the velocity estimates developed from said received signals with an array distortion function to produce velocity estimates exhibiting a modified spectrum; and a display for displaying said modified flow velocity estimates. - View Dependent Claims (27)
-
Specification